Articles

20 Questions with Phil Harrison at DICE

Sony's Phil Harrison and Newsweek's N'Gai Croal talked PS3, showed off Singstar! and even found time to play with rubber duckies.

In an unconventional presentation at the annual DICE Summit, Newsweek videogame journalist N'Gai Croal sat down with Phil Harrison, President of Worldwide Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment for an unrehearsed question and answer session that would include audience participation. The presentation was described by Croal as "20 questions you always wanted to ask Phil Harrison but were too afraid to."

The session began with Croal making it clear that the questions were not presented to Harrison in advance. Harrison quipped that there were only two topics that could not be broached in the session: anything related to Sony share prices, as that information was sensitive and nothing regarding his personal life, including his possible criminal record and/or sordid personal affairs.

The business of working with worldwide studios was the first topic at hand, as Croal asked what processes were entailed when an external developed approached him with a game. Harrison stated that Sony's Worldwide Studios fields an outreach staff that is analogous to the music industry's A&R talent scouts. What they look for in a game is that spark of creativity and innovation backed up by commercial viability.

Sony's Phil Harrison

The topic of the E-Distribution Initiative (EDI) was brought up next, and the relationship between Sony Worldwide Studios and developers seeking to create for the PlayStation Network was discussed. The profile of developers seeking to create a game for digital distribution is far different from those looking to create a game for Blu-ray disc and retail distribution. Essentially, the call has been made for smaller developers to provide downloadable content for the network, as Sony understandably tries to play catchup to the offerings available on Xbox Live.

The price of the PlayStation 3 was brought up, currently at approximately $500 in North America. The success of the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 was partially attributed to those who adopted the consoles after their price-drops, and Croal asked what games were in development that would appeal to the type of consumer that invests in a system after it has reached more of a level of maturity. Harrison's short answer was "plenty." According to Harrison, "Sony is developing titles for the PS3 beyond those targeting the hardcore audience." The European success of SingStar! in pubs was pointed to as evidence of the latest movement in gaming, which they coined as "social gaming." A PlayStation 3 was fired up and a demonstration of SingStar! for PS3 ensued.

The audience was familiar with SingStar!, but for those who haven't been keeping track, it's essentially a karaoke game that allows players to score points for effectively interpreting popular tunes, and will include extensive PlayStation Network support. SingStar! for PS3 will be released later this spring.

The game's internal SingStore! was shown, where players can purchase and download individual songs. Song previews included a snippet of each song's music video, and the crowd cheered when it was revealed that background downloading was now available and integrated across the service. Song file sizes would vary of course, but Pictures of You by The Cure appeared to ring in at 38 MB, if you wanted to approximately gauge how much hard drive space would have to be set aside for extensive song collections.